World Vision opened the first kindergarten classes integrating children with and without disabilities in Georgia this month. Approximately 40 children with disabilities will attend the specially equipped classes in the cities of Kutaisi and Batumi, 230 – 360 kilometres west of the capital city Tbilisi.

World Vision equipped each class with special adaptive equipment, furniture, and arts and crafts materials. The children with disabilities will be under doctors' supervision.

'I am extremely happy that my child will be under special care and have fun with other children in this classroom,' said Nana, mother of seven years-old Gega.


'We hope that this kindergarten will help not only these children to realise their dreams, but also others to have a more tolerant, welcoming attitude,' said David Womble, World Vision Georgia's national director, at the opening of integrated classes.

'Very often society looks at kids with disabilities as different and thinks that they should be isolated, but these children have hopes and dreams just like any other child,' he said.

'It is especially important that these children will be integrated with children without disabilities from a young age. The children are integrating naturally and are already enjoying playing together,' said Marina Mchedlishvbili, program manager of Improved Social and Economic Conditions for Children with Disabilities and their Families.

'We hope to be the model for other kindergartens,' she says.

The implementation of the project is the result of successful collaboration between World Vision and the offices of the mayors of Batumi and Kutaisi, which provided World Vision with rooms in kindergartens.

World Vision works to improve the lives of children with disabilities by integrating them into mainstream education and providing them with rehabilitation facilities. In 2004 World Vision established the first Adaptive Equipment Workshop in Tbilisi to provide high-quality and affordable adaptive equipment for children with disabilities. This equipment is aimed at increasing the independence and integration of children with physical disabilities. The project has assessed 400 children with disabilities in various parts of the country, while some 260 children have been provided the adaptive equipment they need.